Classroom Activities and Demonstrations
Beginner level
Welcome educators!Click the topics below to find hands-on activities for your classroom that relate to Windows to the Universe content. Some of the activities in this section were developed by our team of content developers and expert teachers. Others are ones that we use and recommend.
Windows to the Universe Educator Members - login to get access to free copies of PDF versions of activity descriptions, worksheets, assessments, and associated powerpoints.
Non-members can purchase PDFs and powerpoints (click on "purchase" in the right hand column). Alternatively, you can get access to these resources for only $20/yr (a $230 value) by joining as an Educator Member today!
Free html versions of activities and worksheets are available for most activities - links to these are available in the table below, in the left hand column.
These activities are appropriate (or could be easily adapted) for elementary school (i.e. K-5 classrooms). The Science Standards addressed are on each activity page.
| Find activities about... | |
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Science and Literacy
| Title of activity | Brief description | Bookmark (Members only) | PDF/PPT (Educator Members Only) | Purchase PDF/PPT (Non Educator Members) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snapshot Exercise | A great activity to use on field trips or class outings - have students write a "snapshot" of their experience. |  |
Sensory Detail Word Bank Sensory Observation Sheet | Purchase |
Our Solar System
| Title of activity | Brief description | Bookmark (Members only) | PDF/PPT (Educator Members Only) | Purchase PDF/PPT (Non Educator Members) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Solar System Coloring Book | A ready-to-use coloring book applet! | |
Purchase | |
| Clay Planets | Using clay models to learn about the solar system | |
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| Terrabagga Activity | Use a homemade magnetometer instrument to learn about planetary magnetic fields. | |
Worksheet Instructions for Students: | Purchase |
| The Magnetometer | Build your own magnetometer, use this to learn about planetary magnetic fields. | |
Purchase |
Atmosphere and Weather
| Title of activity | Brief description | Bookmark (Members only) | PDF/PPT (Educator Members Only) | Purchase PDF/PPT (Non Educator Members) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Combining Clouds and Art in the Classroom | An interdisciplinary lesson plan combining landscape painting and cloud identification | |
Powerpoint Presentation | |
| Create a Cloud in a Bottle | Students learn how clouds form by making a model cloud form in a bottle. | |
Purchase | |
| Create a Tornado | Create a tornado in a bottle! | |
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| Create Your Own Fog | An activity on making fog | |
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| Create Your Own Lightning | An activity on making lightning | |
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| Feeling the Heat | Students explore the urban heat island effect by collecting and interpreting data. | |
Data Collection Worksheet Los Angeles Data Cards Powerpoint presentation | Purchase |
| Make it Rain! | A rain activity | |
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| Our Poetic Planet | An interdisciplinary lesson plan combining observations of clouds and weather with writing poetry | |
Powerpoint presentation | Purchase |
| Shadows... | Shadows and their relationship to the time of day/season | |
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| The NCAR Cloud Viewer | Print and use to identify cloud types (760K PDF) | |
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| Three Clouds Activity | One demonstration and two hands-on activities - all about clouds! | |
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| Thunder and Lightning | A simple activity | |
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| Watch the Sky | A great activity to get your students thinking about what they see in the sky | |
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| Weather and Careers Exercise | A lesson that looks at how weather affects different jobs | |
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| Weather Crossword Puzzle | A reading and puzzle exercise available at three levels | |
Geology
| Title of activity | Brief description | Bookmark (Members only) | PDF/PPT (Educator Members Only) | Purchase PDF/PPT (Non Educator Members) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Let's Take a Rock Apart! | A hands-on exploration of the minerals that make up a rock. | |
Worksheet Teacher Key | Purchase |
| Making Sedimentary Rocks! | Students make a model of sedimentary rock layers to understand how rocks form layers and represent ancient environments. | |
Purchase | |
| Roger the Rock | Writing and artwork exercise where students create a children's book to show the rock cycle | |
Worksheet Assessment | Purchase |
| Shake, Rattle and Roll | An easy way to show how surface area affects weathering | |
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| Snack Tectonics | Students create a tasty model that illustrates plate tectonic motions. | |
Purchase | |
| Take a Stab! | Model-building activity that will help students visualize what lies below a surface | |
Purchase | |
| Tetrahedron Model | Students build a tetrahedron model using simple materials. Activity focuses on silica tetrahedron. | |
Purchase | |
| The Magnetometer | Build your own magnetometer, use this to learn about planetary magnetic fields. | |
Purchase | |
| Thirsty Rocks | Investigate porosity and permeability using sandstone. | |
Purchase |
Geography
| Title of activity | Brief description | Bookmark (Members only) | PDF/PPT (Educator Members Only) | Purchase PDF/PPT (Non Educator Members) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Land Plan Challenge | Students plan towns and learn how planning affects the environment and the larger community. | |
Activity and Worksheet Template 1 Template 2 Template 3 | Purchase |
Climate and Global Change
| Title of activity | Brief description | Bookmark (Members only) | PDF/PPT (Educator Members Only) | Purchase PDF/PPT (Non Educator Members) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Changing Planet: Adaptation of Species (Birds and Butterflies) | Students investigate how shape and structure of bird beaks affects the type of food that birds are able to eat, and view how global climate change is affecting many species of animals. | |
Worksheet Class Summary Powerpoint Presentation | Purchase |
| Changing Planet: Rising Ocean Temperatures - Rising Sea Levels | Students investigate how thermal expansion of water affects sea level | |
Worksheet | Purchase |
| Feeling the Heat | Students explore the urban heat island effect by collecting and interpreting data. | |
Data Collection Worksheet Los Angeles Data Cards Powerpoint presentation | Purchase |
| Glaciers: Then and Now | Students compare photographs of glaciers to observe how Alaskan glaciers have changed over the last century.
Selected by CLEAN! |
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Worksheet Photo Pairs | Purchase |
| Making Sedimentary Rocks! | Students make a model of sedimentary rock layers to understand how rocks form layers and represent ancient environments. | |
Purchase | |
| The Land Plan Challenge | Students plan towns and learn how planning affects the environment and the larger community. | |
Activity and Worksheet Template 1 Template 2 Template 3 | Purchase |
| Thermal Expansion and Sea Level Rise | Discover how thermal expansion of water might affect sea level! | |
Purchase | |
| Using the Carbon Cycle Interactive Game in the Classroom | Through an online game, students learn how carbon cycles through the Earth system | |
Purchase |
Water
| Title of activity | Brief description | Bookmark (Members only) | PDF/PPT (Educator Members Only) | Purchase PDF/PPT (Non Educator Members) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Build a Model Watershed | Students construct a model land surface and use the model to explore basic concepts of watersheds. | |
Purchase | |
| Changing Planet: Rising Ocean Temperatures - Rising Sea Levels | Students investigate how thermal expansion of water affects sea level | |
Worksheet | Purchase |
| Ducks in the Flow | Resources about Surface Ocean Currents for the Upper Elementary Classroom | |
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| Exploring Density of Salt and Fresh Water: Par 5 | A fun activity that involves the interaction between fresh water and salt water | |
Purchase | |
| The Land Plan Challenge | Students plan towns and learn how planning affects the environment and the larger community. | |
Activity and Worksheet Template 1 Template 2 Template 3 | Purchase |
| Thermal Expansion and Sea Level Rise | Discover how thermal expansion of water might affect sea level! | |
Purchase |
Life
| Title of activity | Brief description | Bookmark (Members only) | PDF/PPT (Educator Members Only) | Purchase PDF/PPT (Non Educator Members) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adaptation Investigation | Investigate how shape and structure of beaks affects the type of food that birds are able to eat. | |
Student Data Table Class Summary Powerpoint presentation | Purchase |
| Changing Planet: Adaptation of Species (Birds and Butterflies) | Students investigate how shape and structure of bird beaks affects the type of food that birds are able to eat, and view how global climate change is affecting many species of animals. | |
Worksheet Class Summary Powerpoint Presentation | Purchase |
| Growing Penguins Timeline | Students make a timeline of Adelie penguin development | |
Penguin Photos | Purchase |
| Make an Arctic Creature Mobile | Students color, cut and assemble a mobile of animals and others that live in the Arctic Ocean and on the sea ice above it. | |
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| Polishing the Petoskey | Students will wear away and then polish a Petoskey stone. | |
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| Using the Carbon Cycle Interactive Game in the Classroom | Through an online game, students learn how carbon cycles through the Earth system | |
Purchase |
Sun and Spaceweather
| Title of activity | Brief description | Bookmark (Members only) | PDF/PPT (Educator Members Only) | Purchase PDF/PPT (Non Educator Members) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solar Concentration Game | A great game to be played on the internet! | |
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| Sun-Earth Flip Books | A fun, easy way to learn about the Sun. | |
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| Ulysses Solar Word Search Game | A different game for each level! The words chosen are ones that have to do with the Ulysses solar mission. | |
Physics and Chemistry
| Title of activity | Brief description | Bookmark (Members only) | PDF/PPT (Educator Members Only) | Purchase PDF/PPT (Non Educator Members) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exploring Density of Salt and Fresh Water: Par 5 | A fun activity that involves the interaction between fresh water and salt water | |
Purchase | |
| Frozen Film | A hands-on activity dealing with light interference | |
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| Is Air a Fluid? | Discover how gases can flow! | |
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| Magnetic Levitation | Learn basic concepts of magnetism and forces via magnetic levitation. | |
Worksheet | Purchase |
| Printable Activity Page about Magnetism | Includes a wordsearch, connect-the-dots and coloring activity. | |
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| Spectral Surprise | A model that displays the rainbow colors of the spectrum | |
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| Tetrahedron Model | Students build a tetrahedron model using simple materials. Activity focuses on silica tetrahedron. | |
Purchase | |
| The Magnetometer | Build your own magnetometer, use this to learn about planetary magnetic fields. | |
Purchase |
